Pounding music. Sculpted men. And a conspiracy that could cost far more than a few dollar bills . . .

HOT COP

Detective Blake Knight has been undercover before. But an assignment to bust a steroid ring running out of Dallas’s elite male strip club means his new cover will be nothing but his own taut muscles and oiled skin. It’s one thing for the tough, by-the-books agent to take down bad guys with his gun. Facing a rowdy crowd in only a G-string is another story . . . especially in front of his new boss, gorgeous, mysterious Reese Landon.

Her father’s club and shady business practices bring back terrible memories for Reese. But when he’s shot and goes into a coma, she vows to protect him the way he never did for her. That means keeping the police at a distance—especially sexy, driven Detective Knight. If she has to give him a cover job, it would be a crime not to put that glorious ass on stage. But no matter how good he looks in a Velcro uniform, she can't trust him, or give into the undeniable heat between them. They're both chasing the truth. And it might expose more than either wants to show . . .

Having a cop going undercover in a male stripper club is is something new and I’ll admit readily that this played a huge part in wanting to read ‘Dangerous Moves’. Marvellous premise, after all and I’ll not say no to this. Romantic Suspense or not, that does start off rather hilariously, as Blake Knight takes on one of the dodgiest cases and had the (good?) fortune of meeting the owner’s daughter.

But with the strip club as a front for illegal activities amid the red-hot male routines, Blake and Reese find themselves on the opposite sides of the law, and that proves to be the rift that this pairing is built on despite the helpless pull of attraction that both have for each other.

Both Blake and Reese clearly have some sort of character-growth arc throughout: Blake for seeing the world in black and white and having his moral code flipping on its head when he learns about dirty activities involving cops and steroids were happening under his nose. On the other hand, Reese’s blind, naive loyalty to her father gets her close to obstructing justice, as is her refusal to see family as anything but culpable. However, it isn’t one that’s realised early on enough until it’s nearly too late, having her come across as naive and a bit TSTL, and possibly a bit selfish, to the point where she thinks that Blake doing his job means not putting her first.

That said, Karen Rock writes the suspense excellently and the pacing during these action scenes is well done. Yet it got predictable—the villain’s identity seemed as obvious as daylight—and there were parts in the middle of a scene or chapter transitions that felt awkward with several odd phrases that stood out during the sex scenes for instance. But there were also bits that had me laughing, particularly in the beginning. I did want to know more about another secondary character however (and was slightly mollified that there will be a book on him) and was disappointed when he merely flitted in and out of the pages like a passing ship in the night.

‘Dangerous Moves’ is nonetheless a decent read, albeit not a perfect one. Rock however, teases the blurb of the next book in here and that’s making me look forward to it already.